Christianity in Ethiopia
goes back to the 4th Century when a Christian
philosopher and his two students, traveling from India to Syria, were
shipwrecked on the Red Sea coast. While Meropius the philosopher was
promptly beheaded, the two youths, Frumentius and Edesius, were captured
as slaves and taken to Axum in the Ethiopian highlands. King Ezana of
Axum became fond of them and in time they rose to high positions in his
administration, and were eventually granted their liberty. It is these
two who are credited with introducing Christianity to Axum.

Edesius returned to his native Tyre, but Frumentius was sent to Christian
Alexandria for an audience with Patriarch Athansios to request a bishop
for Axum. The Patriarch appointed Frumentius himself as the first
bishop, who returned to Axum to start his mission. Over the centuries,
the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
continued to be linked to the Patriarchate
of Alexandria which sent Egyptian Coptic
bishops until 1951 when it
became autarchic, under an arrangement instigated by Emperor Haile
Selassie.

Modern Ethiopia is just over 50% Orthodox Christian, while the rest is
Muslim as well as
Roman Catholic, and animist
in the South. Up until the
death of Haile Selassie in 1974 after a Communist coup, tens of thousands
of monks lived in
monasteries throughout the highland region. Life
became difficult after the coup, but since democracy was reinstated in
1991, the life of the Church and religious orders has again improved,
although not with the numbers they had before. There are two kinds of
monks: those who live permanently in monasteries and study usually from
an early age. And those who become monks when they retire from normal
working life, and eke out their final years as wandering mendicants.

Many of those, both male and female, can be seen at Lalibela living in
caves surrounding the many ancient churches such as Giorgis and
Golgotha, especially on feast days. Thousands also come during the
annual Feast of Mary in Axum when they camp around the cathedral of
Saint Mary of Zion, which is in the vicinity of a chapel which houses
the Ark of the Covenant. Several monasteries are included in this set of
photographs, including Debre Damo,
Debre Zion,
Ambo and
Abuna Garima, with
images of the resident monks as well as the Patriarch Abuna Paulos
visiting the monastery he attended as a young monk.

04et254 - 64-year-old Meregeta Zewde Tadesi, a scribe who was trained in Gondar, inscribing his name and a prayer book which he spent many years to write by hand before selling it to a tourist, Bilbala village, near Lalibela, Ethiopia.

05et268 - Procession of monks at the Abuna Garima monastery, Tigray, during the visit of His Holiness, Patriarch Paulos, who used to be a monk at the monastery, Ethiopia.

04et196 - Debre Damo monastery. Tigray. Scaling the 18 metre cliff to reach the monastery which is at the top. Only men are allowed up. Several people die every year making the dangerous ascent, Ethiopia.

04et069 - Boys eating a meal of injera, at the minor seminary for Orthodox priests at Ambo, Ethiopia.

05et221 - The Maryam Feast, Feast of Mary, at Axum. Exterior of the church of Saint Mary of Zion, Ethiopia.